We highly recommend you purchase travel insurance. The reason we are so keen on you having trip insurance is because it protects you if you have an unexpected change in travel plans.
Importance of Travel Insurance
Here is an example. Let’s assume you are signed up for a tour and hurt your leg a week before the trip. If you have no trip insurance, you will call us on the telephone and we will be very sad to tell you there is no refund – because our costs are mostly fixed and you might have displaced someone who otherwise could have gone on the tour. You might then be unhappy with us, even though you took the risk of not getting travel insurance.
If you do have trip insurance, you can receive your entire airfare and trip cost from the insurance company and can start planning for your next tour! And trip insurance need not be expensive, costing in the range of $60-$300 for most of our trips (depending on your age, trip cost and type of coverage).
Additionally, with the changes in health care laws (in the US), many health insurance programs no longer cover travel abroad or even, sometimes, out of your home state.
When to Purchase Travel Insurance
For some benefit options such as “cancel for any reason” or “existing medical conditions” you must purchase your policy within 14 days of booking your trip. For most trips, this will be the date you pay the deposit. However, if you sign up for a trip that has not yet met the minimum needed to run, your deposit may be considered a “good faith” deposit, and the date we confirm the tour will run will be your “booking date” for insurance purposes. If you do book travel insurance for a trip that we later cancel, most insurance companies will refund your money or give you a credit for the premium you paid.
Travel Insurance Recommendations
Basic insurance generally covers cancellation due to injury or illness, which covers most cases. However, if you have a pre-existing condition you will probably need to upgrade to a higher plan. “Cancel for any reason” options are usually only available at the highest plan levels but give you more security. Remember to use the date we confirmed the trip as your initial deposit date.
TravelInsurance.com is a consolidator that can easily sort and compare plans, prices and benefits from top rated companies after you enter your trip details. This is a good way to comparison shop in one step.